Saturday, May 26, 2012

Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: Azriahl

It's that time once again for our penultimate feature post of the month, and it's this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! As always, this profile will look at a metal or hard rock band from outside of the Sault Ste. Marie area that happens to feature at least one past or present Sault Ste. Marie resident in one of their lineups. This 36th band that we're covering in this monthly series have only recently been garnering a lot of attention, but they're off to a good start, so read all about this month's profiled band below! (Updated on November 26th, 2014)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Azriahl (Peterborough, Ontario)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED, ex-members in italics. This information may be incomplete. E-mail me if you have any additions!)

Local Info: The only Saultite in Azriahl to my knowledge is guitarist Paul Tikkanen, who may be very familiar to local fans from his work in 1980s acts like Thansis Colle (with veteran local drummer Glen Thomas), and his talent spoke for itself back then! After moving to Toronto, he played lead guitar in acts like Tikkanen, Sinisteria, and Q, releasing some original material in the process. After a lengthy hiatus & a move to Peterborough, he joined the hard rock band Blackmeat Powder in the late 2000s, and after he left that band due to musical differences, he recently joined forces with Azriahl. Currently, Paul also does some solo instrumental work which he licenses to the entertainment industry, some of which you can stream at this location, and he's recently been seen in the progressive rock band Goblin Market with Azriahl bandmate Robbie Rogers.

Band Bio:Azriahl are a progressive hard rock band that has been active in varying forms since around 2008, when it was started as an acoustic solo project led by frontwoman Sarah Mourning. Since at least 2010, the band has slowly assembled a full five piece lineup, with Paul joining in or around the summer of 2011. Increasingly gaining some radio airplay and solid notices in Southern Ontario, the band released their debut album in the fall of 2012, and, and debuted as a full band on December 22nd as part of a CD release show in Peterborough, later playing live the following spring, though they soon went on hiatus. Though officially "sleeping but alive & well", Sarah is hoping to revive the band with a new lineup in the coming months. From what I've heard of Azriahl so far, I'm impressed with their mix of progressive rock and heavier influences, and they definitely seem to have their head on straight in terms of their musical future! Sarah's vocals are deeper & more soulful then I expected, and they suit some of the more downbeat material well, while on songs like "Red Queen" & "Faith", there's some really nice bass work and guitar melodies!

Paul's talents are on full display, though I would like to hear some more guitar solos on the released tracks so far. Updated have been slow since mid-2013, but hopefully we hear more soon! Azriahl's currently posted material can primarily be found at their Reverbnation page linked above, and you can now buy their album at this link, so definitely give it a look! Their YouTube channel also has a bunch of original songs, demo recordings, and more, so check it out as well. Featured below is a live video from their live debut in December 2012 featuring 3 songs, so give it a look for some exciting progressive hard rock!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! Next month, we're finally gonna take a look at RedStone Riot, the Muskegon hard rock quintet featuring former Elipzis bandmates and Sault Michigan natives Rachel Kiger & Ryan Harrison! Now that they have some material online, it makes sense to spotlight them next, so look out for that profile on or around June 26th! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news very soon along with our Insipid Brutality album review by the end of the month! Thanks everyone!